Sunday, May 24, 2009

Yesterday, I woke up super early and spent a day in Incheon with a couple of girlfriends!

We didn't really know what was there, so when we got to the station (around 2 hours away from Anam), we headed directly towards the Tourist Info counter where the guy gave us some English maps and suggested a few places.

Right across the street from Incheon Station (which cost me only 1,600won to get to, btw!), was Korea's very own China Town! lolIt was slightly amusing to see all those lanterns and servers dressed in Chinese outfits + cheongsams. I was hoping for some actual chinese food, but everything still seemed a bit Korean-Chinesified. We ended up having deep fried dumplings + jajangmyeon. I'm standing next to a HUGE bowl of jajangmyeon!The other two bought quite a few souvenirs such as Hematite bracelets and necklaces, bangles, paper lanterns, tea pot sets, and flower tea balls. I think they bought more Chinese souvenirs than Korean! haha They sold fortune cookies -- 2 for 1,000won.Soon to be dinner...hehe kiiiiiidding.

Then we took the bus (45) to Wolmi Island - around 7 minutes away by bus. It wasn't really an island - it was like Granville Island in Vancouver -- connected. There was a traditional Korean garden + observatory on this island. We walked around the garden -- there was a little kite/craft festival going on.This kite string was amazing - it never ended!Arts and crafts -- paint by number fans!You can get your hair washed like they did back then!Such a nice day! So many families were having picnics all over!Communal drinking fountain... so many people drink from those terracotta-coloured ladles!Then we walked all the way up to the middle of the mountain to get to the observatory, but we couldn't get to it. It was blocked off to protect the Eagles nest. So, we walked halfway around (long trail), and walked down to try to get to a museum but ended up walking along the seawall type thing. There was a Global festival going on so there were a lot of families and couples + street entertainment.Huge origami crane!There were also many many raw fish restaurants lining the seawall!So appetizing!Then, half an hour before it departed, we decided to hop on this 15,000won 1.5 hour cruise. Little did we know, we were the youngest on the ship by far. I felt as though I was on some Asian-only Alaskan cruise! It was also the tackiest boat I've been on hahaha! When we walked in on the first floor, we were slapped in the face with Korean music for those 65+. So, we went to the 2nd floor and grabbed a table by the window. 5 minutes later, a huge crowd of retired Korean women and men plopped themselves down on the tables and ordered a round of Hite beer + chips. Another 15 minutes later, once the boat left shore, the entertainment started.... oh my......... We saw around 10 mini shows: tumblers, Spanish dancers, Russian dancers, some super flexible Chinese girls, and this guy who blew up and then did the splits.Walked around outside:A really long and thin bridge that just goes on...and on...and on.Feeding the birds with chips. SWOOPThe last 45 minutes was open dance floor time where the ajummas got up and did the jig. It was amusingly awful and too loud to talk so I napped for 15 minutes. Then we walked to the museum! It was the Museum of Korean Emigration. It was new and free - built to celebrate the 100th year Koreans first emigrated to the United States!Interesting stuff -- we were given those audio gadgets/headphone thingies that describe what you're looking at. These were neat because they were automatic - when you stood in front of the display, a voice would instantly start describing!We were a bit rushed - only had 30 minutes to cover the whole museum so we couldn't really enjoy the last bit though it was great having the whole museum to ourselves!This is the S.S. Gaelic - a ship that transported 102 Korean immigrants to the US! They got so seasick.Korean emigrant farmers earned approximately $17USD/month, working from 6AM-9PM 6 days a week! They had to wear these tags around their necks - the tags told the boss how much they were worth.Then we cabbed it back to Incheon Stn and ate sashimi for dinner! I'm a huge sashimi fan, but the other girls were a bit picky. Since we couldn't read the menu, we just ordered the 2 items that the ajumma said were sashimi. We all agreed that the lightest coloured one was excellent. The other girls wouldn't touch the darker 2 fish because they contained bones and a little bit of skin so I pretty much ate it all... good fishy dinner! haha (I love fish!)All in all, Incheon isn't a place I would visit again as there wasn't much to do for someone my age, but anywhere is fun when you have great company, which I did!

Sandra: Thanks for the comment! If I didn't have school, I think I would spend the majority of my time shopping, too! haha but good thing I have school or else I would be one veeeery broke girl =) How long are you staying in Seoul for?